1e 458 

.J73 \ 

"Copy 1 " 



AN ADDRESS 



Off 



THE ASPECT OF NATIONAL AFFAIRS 



AND THE 



rtCtHT of secession, 

DELIVERED BEFORE 

THE LITERARY CLUB OF CINCINNATI, 

SATURDAY EVENING, MARCH 16, 1861. 

BY 

WILLIAM JOHNSTON, 

. OF THE CINCINNATI BAR. 



CINCINNATI: 
PUBLISHED BY RICKEY & CARROLL. 

NO. 7:i WEST KOrRTH STREKT. (PIKE'S OPER.\ HOUSE.) 

186L 



AN ADDRESS 



ON 



THE ASPECT OF NATIONAL AFFAIRS 



AXD THE 



RIGHT OF SECESSION. 



DELIVERED BEFORE 



THE LITERARY CLUB OF CLNCINNATl, 



SATURDAY EVENING, MARCH 16, 1861, 



BY 




WILLIAM JOnNSTO:N', 

or THE CINCINNATI BAR. 




PUBLISHED BY RICKEY & CARROLL, 

NO. 73 WEST FODKTH STREKT. (PIKE'S OPERA HOUSE.) 

1861. 



.1 



THE 



RIGHT OF SECESSION. 



We have come, at last, to the great question of man's 
capacity for self-government. We liave proved to the 
world our capacity for everything else. I^othing, depend- 
ing on human genius or human daring, is above our reach 
or beyond our power. The only remaining question is, 
Can any system of self-government be contrived by the 
wisdom of man or the bounty of God, with which the 
people will be satisfied ? Or must they be remanded, like 
other, ungrateful people, to civil war and fraternal blood- 
shed ? To fire, sword, famine, desolation, and poverty, till, 
worn out with calamity, they subside into peace, and seek 
safety for life and property in proffered despotism? 

Such has been the fortune of other countries who had 
more freedom than they knew what to do with, more wealth 
than the rational wants of man required, and greater pros- 
perity than could be borne by the vanity and weakness 
of human nature. Can it be possible that, in seventy 
years, we have culminated in glory? m>t in gloiy only, 
but in badness and fully, like the builders of ancient 
Babel, till God has come down to confound our language, 
and scatter us abroad ? 

The Constitution under which we have lived for sev- 

(3) 



4 THE RIGUT OF SECESSION. 

enty years, has challenged the admiration of wise men 
tliroughout the world. For the few and simple, but indis- 
pensable ]:)urposes for which it was made, no government 
contrived by the wit of man was ever so wise, so equal, or 
so beneficent. No human government ever was adminis- 
tered with so much moderation, so much wisdom, and so 
much cqtuilit}' toward the ditfcrcnt sections of the coun- 
try. Nor was any government ever so successful in the 
results of Hs administration. 

States, revolving within their own constitutional spheres, 
have moved onward to unexampled prosperitj^ without 
the expense of building forts, fleets, and arsenals, or rais- 
ing and supporting armies, because the common defense 
was taken care of by the Federal Government ; without the 
expense of building light-houses, and improving rivers and 
harbors, because the common commerce of the Nation was 
provided for by the Federal Goverimient; without the end- 
less vexation of providing a safe mode of correspondence 
with the different sections of our own country or of foreign 
countries, because "post-roads" were established, and the 
mails brought to every man's door by the Federal Govern- 
ment ; without contlicts or border wars between the sev- 
eral states, because the Federal Government furnisiied a 
common umpire betw^een them ; without the commerce 
of one state being taxed or interrupted by another state, 
because the Federal Government guaranteed free trade 
between them ; without the commerce of any state on the 
high seas being menaced by any power on earth, because 
the flag of the Union floated aloft on every sea, command- 
ing the respect of the world. 

The purposes of the Federal Constitution are well and 
briefly expressed in the preamble : 

" We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect 
"union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the coni- 
" men defense, promote the general welfare, and to secure the blessings of 



THE RIGHT OF SECESSION. 5 

" liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this CoN- 

"8TITUTI0N FOR THE UNITED STATES OF AmEKICA." 

The few simple and general principles of this instru- 
ment were not only ordained by the people in convention, 
but ratified by the states separately. Among the rest is 
this one, worthy of notice first of all : 

" Art. VI. — This constitution, and the laws of the United States which 
•'shall be made in pursuance thereof, and all treaties made, or which .■^hall be 
" made under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law 
"of the land; and the judges of every state shall be bound thereby, any- 
" thing in the constitution or laws of any state to the contrary notwith- 
•' standing." 

"The senators and representatives before mentioned, and the members of 
"the several state legislatures, and all executive and judicial officers, both 
" of the United States, and of the several states, shall be bound by an oath 
"or affirmation, to support this Constitution." 

One would suppose that, whatever may be the extent 
or the meaning of the Constitution, there were two things 
beyond all doubt : First. That the instrument is a law. 
Second. That, as far as it goes, it is supreme. 

To all human government, I admit, there is a right of 
resistance — a revolutionary right, which overrides all forms 
of law, and all obligations of allegiance — a disruption of 
the social tie, and an appeal to the God of battles. But 
revolution is not justifiable for every discontent which may 
arise in a state. The causes which may justify revolution 
are well defined in our Declaration of Independence : 

"We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal ; 
"that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; 
"that among these are life, liberty, and the 2^ursuit of hapjnness. That, to 
" secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their 
"just powers from the consent of the governed ; that, whenever any form of 
" government becomes icstruciive of these ends, it is the right of the people 
" to alter or abolish it, and to institute a new government, laying its foun- 
" dations on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form as to 



6 THE RIGHT OF SECESSION. 

"them shall seem most likely to secure their safety and happiness. Pru- 
"dence, indeed, will dictate that governments long establi.shed should not 
"be changed for liyld and irnnsieni. causes; and, accordingly, all expcri- 
"ence hath shown that niaiikind arc more disposed to sutler, while evils 
" arc sufferahlc, than to ri^lit themselves by abolishing the forms to which 
" they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, 
" pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them 
" under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw oft 
" such government, and provide now guards for their future security. 
" Such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies, and such is now 
" the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of 
"government. The hi.«tory of the present king of Great Britain is a his- 
" tory of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the 
" estnblishtnent of an absolute tyranny over these states. To prove this, let 
" facts be submitted to a candid world." 

Then follow twenty-seven specific charges, which fully 
sustain the general allegation above made. Such are the 
causes which warrant revolutions. 

It is (lifJicnlt to imafirine how such a state of thins-s could 
arise in a republic where the people are the source of all 
power; where a new jjresident is elected every four years; 
new representatives elected ever}* two years; new senators 
elected every six years; rotation in office every four years; 
and none but tlie judiciarj^ who can make no law, liold- 
ing office during good behavior; and wlicre the objects of 
the government are so few and sini[»Ie. 

If the people practice " a long train of abuses and usurp- 
ations" on tliemselves — if they "pursue invariably the 
" same object, evincing a design to reduce themselves under 
" absolute despotism " — if they practice on themselves " re- 
" peated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object 
"the establishment of absolute tyranny over" themselves, 
accordinof to the rule laid down in the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, they prove themselves " unfit to be the rulei-s of a 
free jjeoplc;" and there is an end of self-government. The 
glorious idea with which we have filled and fired the world 
is all a delusion. The people can not govern themselves. 



THE RIGHT OF SECESSION. 7 

They must have kings bj^ the grace of God, and senators 
by birth. They must have crowns and miters to dazzle 
their stupid gaze; and a titled nobility to stand between 
them and the throne. The dangerous truth, lurking in 
every bosom, "that all men are created equal," must be 
ag-ain smothered. Mankind do not know the value of 
freedom, and, therefore, it is not safe to trust them with 
it. They do not want to be rationally free, and, there- 
fore, let us have a revolution, in which something newer 
and more grateful than freedom may turn up. 

But the politicians along the Gulf do not want revolu- 
tion. There is something in the word revolt more start- 
ling to the Southern than to the Northern ear. What they 
think of is, getting out of the Union without a revolution. 
They will carry with them the arsenals and arms of the 
United States ; the mints and money of the United States; 
the forts and light-houses of the United States; the Con- 
stitution and laws of the United States ; but they will 
leave the United States behind. This is secession. 

Let us, then, inquire into the right of secession — from 
whence it comes, and wdiither it tends. 

This inquiry runs directly into the question, whether the 
instrument under which we have lived so long and grown 
so great, is, in fact, as it purports to be, a " Constitution 
"FOR THE United States of America;" or whether it is 
something else, called, for want of better scholarship, "a 
" constitution : " whether it is, in its own language, " the 
"supreme law of the land," ordained by the people; or 
whether it is some sort of a treaty between the states in 
their corporate capacity, open at both ends, so that either 
party may creep out at pleasure. 

This latter view, so far as I know its genealogy, origin- 
ated in a set of abstractions in the nature of a modern 
platform, passed by the Legislature of Virginia, and after- 
ward by the Legislature of Kentucky, in high party times, 



8 THE RIGHT OF SECESSION. 

during the administration of John Adams — times when 
]>olitical platforms on both sides were built, not upright 
like the towers, but obliquel}-, like the abutments, of a sus- 
pension bridge, with reference to a strong pull from the 
other side. 

These abstractions declare that the United States are 



"united by a compact, under the style and title of a Constitution for the 
"United States; that to this compact, each state acceded as a state, and is 
"an integral party, its co-states forming to itself the other party; that the 
"government created by this compact was not made the exclusive or final 
"judge of the extent of the powers delegated to itself; but that, as in all 
"other cases of compact among parties having no common judge, each party 
"has an equal right to judge for himself, as well of infractions as the mode 
" and manner of redress." 



It is well known that Mr. Madison, who brought forward 
these resolutions, in after life repudiated their doctrine; 
and if, as is supposed, Mr. Jeflerson drafted them, I have 
two remarks to make : First. Any man who mingles as 
much in party politics and writes as many volumes as 
Mr. Jeiferson did, without writing something for his friends 
to be ashamed of, is a happy man. Second. No President 
of the United States ever disregarded such abstractions 
more than Mr. Jefferson. He was a strict constructionist 
of the Constitution, but all the better for that. Those 
who construe the Constitution strictly are the truest friends 
to the Constitution and the Union. Those who defend 
strictly the constitutional rights of the states, are least 
likely to infringe the powers of the Federal Government. 
Those who depart from the letter of the Constitution, and 
run after vague abstractions and party platforms, are, in 
the end, far more likely to run into nuUilication, secession, 
and treason. 

I can not trust my abilit}' to go into the philological 
argument of this question. All that the subrogation of 



THE RIGHT OF SECESSION". 9 

words, and the pith of language, and the powers of meta- 
physics, could do on the one side ; or the lights of analogy, 
and the powers of logic, and the breadth of thought, could 
do on the other, has been done by Calhoun and Webster. 
The lesser lights are not worth reading on either side. 

Philological argument, however powerful, is unsatisfac- 
tory to the common mind. When two mighty minds 
enter into a contest, as to whether the Constitution means 
what it says, or whether it means something else, there is 
more of wonderment than of conviction left on the com- 
mon mind. We wonder why so little can be said in favor 
of that which, on reflection, is self-evident — we wonder 
how so much can be said in support of some idea which, 
on reflection, is without foundation. 

In such a dilemma the mind feels around it in search 
of some argument which enters into the practical work- 
ings of the government. It wants to know whether such 
theories, if acted upon, w^ould not counteract the known 
and admitted powers of the Constitution ? — whether the 
instrument admits of a construction which, in the end, 
will destroy its existence? What I propose, then, is a 
practical inquiry into the ettects of these doctrines ou 
the acknowledged powers of the Government; — whether 
these abstractions, put in action, and the Constitution, can 
exist and act together at the same time. 

Whenever you admit the right of a state to be the sole 
judge of her own grievances and her own remedies, and 
to withdraw from the Union at pleasure, you concede to 
her the right to nullify the powers of the Federal Consti- 
tution, and defeat the movements of the Federal Govern- 
ment; not only as to the relations between the Federal 
Goveinmeut and the nullifying, but as to the relations 
and duties of the Federal Government to other states, at 
peace with the Federal Government, and desiring to 
remain in the Union. 



10 THE RIGHT OF SECESSION. 

I propose to illustrate by a few examples; and, first of 
all, the treaty-making powder of the Government. 

The treaty-making power, in all civilized countries, is 
all but unbounded. Through this power whole kinjrdoma 
have been bought, sold, and exchanged ; the navigation 
of rivers and inland seas, the right of way across conti- 
nents, and the commerce of nations secured. 

So great was this treaty-making power, that the fraraers 
of the Constitution, in conferring it on the President, 
guarded it by requiring the advice and consent of two- 
thirds of the Senate. Art. II, Sec. 2, provides that " He 
" shall liave power, by and with the advice and consent of 
" the Senate, to make treaties, provided two-thirds of the 
" Senate present concur." 

The most important exercise of this power, since the 
Constitution was adopted, fell out under the administra- 
tion of Mr. Jefiferson, in the purchase, from the First Con- 
sul of France, of the Louisiana Territory. At that time 
the northwestern slope of Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, 
Pennsylvania, and New York, and the whole Northwestern 
Territory — now composing Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan — ■ 
were a wilderness, struggling into cultivation, with every 
element of success, except a market for their produce. 
Canals were not then in use, and railroads had not been 
invented. The only outlet for the vast valley, west of the 
Blue Ridge, was the Mississippi river, flowing through 
the dominions of a foreign power. The great and only 
depot for this vast valley was the city of New Orleans, 
situated within the dominions of a foreign power. 

To purchase by treaty a commercial highway, and a 
depot for the peoi)le in the Mississippi valley, was the 
primary object of Mr. Jefierson. He sent Mr. Livingston 
and Mr. Monroe to France, not to purchase the Louisiana 
Territory, but to purchase the free navigation of the Mis- 
sissippi lliver, the city of New Orleans, and, if it might 



1 



THE RIGHT OF SECESSION. 11 

be done, the Floridas. The entire Louisiana Territory 
was unexpectedly offered by the French minister. It 
was unexpectedly purchased by the American ministers. 
The treaty was ghidly accepted by Mr. Jefferson. It was 
wisely ratified by the Senate within a few days. 

Thus, for the consideration of eighty millions of francs, 
the most magnificent river in the world — the great em- 
porium of the Southwest for all time to come — and rich 
land enough for an empire, were purchased, through the 
treaty-making power of the Federal Constitution. That 
in all this Mr. Livingston, Mr. Monroe, Mr. Jefferson, 
and the United States Senate acted in good faith, wisely 
and considerately, can not be denied. 

With whose money, and for whose behoof, was this 
purchase made? It was purchased with the money, and 
held in trust for every citizen of the United States, East 
and West, ]*^orth and South; for them, and their heirs, 
assigns, and successors forever. Every citizen of the 
United States has, by birthright, a visitorial power over 
this purchase, to inquire whether the purposes of this trust 
are faithfully executed; whether the navigation of the 
Mississippi is free and unobstructed ; whether the ports 
of entry along its banks are open and free to the flag 
of the Union, and the commerce of all the states; whether 
the duties on foreign goods are faithfully collected and 
paid into the treasury of the United States; whether on 
this soil " tlie citizens of each state" enjoy " all the priv- 
" ilexes and immunities of citizens in the several states;" 
whether here " this Constitution, and the laws of the 
"United States which '■have been' made in pursuance 
" thereof, and all treaties made under the authority of 
" the United States, are the supreme law of the land." 

The purchasers from the United States within the Mis- 
sissippi Valley have still higher rights — rights in the na- 
ture of covenants running with their title. 



12 THE RIGHT OF SECESSION. 

All the territory drained by the Mississippi, from the 
fiunimit of the Appalachian to the summit of the Rocky 
Mountains, is, more or less, settled by the citizens of the 
United States. These lands have been survej'ed and sold 
by the Federal Government, and purchased in good faith 
by the citizens. The purchasers did not purchase the land 
over which their parchments spread merely ; they pur- 
chased the land with all the rights, privileges, appurte- 
nances, and easements thereunto belonging. AVithout these 
the lands would have been comparatively valueless. With 
them they furnish homes to the purchasers, and a rich 
inheritance to their children. 

What were the rights so purchased by the citizen and 
guaranteed by the Government — the covenants so running 
with their title ? The chiefest of these were the free navi- 
gation of the Mississippi, and free trade in all the ports on 
its border. There is not a man in all the Mississippi valley 
but knows, as he watches the melting snows, and marks 
the trickling current from his spring, that he has a right 
to follow their waters to the Gulf. The latest settler in 
Minnesota knows that the waters of the Mississippi are, of 
riffht, as free to him as the waters of the Minnehaha. To 
these rights the citizens looked when they purchased their 
land, and it is a fraud on them if they can be deprived of 
these rights. 

It is time to pause here and inquire whether it was in 
the contemplation of Mr. Livingston and Mr. Monroe, 
while they were negotiating for the purchase of Louisiana, 
at the rate of eighty millions of francs, to be paid from the 
treasury of the United States ; or of Mr, Jefferson when 
he adopted their contract; or of the United States Senate 
when they ratified it, that the millions of people to whom 
this great valley was to to be sold, could, in a few years, 
be robbed of their rights, and left without remedy, by a 
few desperadoes at the mouth of the river? That the 



THE RIGHT OF SECESSION. 13 

future state of Louisiana, occupying a patch of land on 
either side, could take the mint of the United States under 
one arm, and the custom-house under the other, witiidraw 
from the Union, sit down in the channel of the Mississippi, 
and shut up the common highway of thirty-four states. 
But as'ain : 

I wish to group this treaty-making power with one of 
the powers of Congress, conferred by the Constitution 
(Art. IV, Sec. S,) in these words : " New states may be 
" admitted by the Congress into this Union." And yet 
another power conferred by the Constitution, (Art. I, Sec. 
8,) to " provide for the common defense of the United 
« States." 

In 1819, through the treaty-making power, we purchased 
Florida from Spain, and in 1821, took possession; and 
since that time she has been admitted into the Union as 
a state. Every one who has read the discussions of that 
day, knows that the value of the land was not the object 
of the acquisition. " The common defense of the United 
"States" was the leading o1)ject. The peninsula was a 
long tongue of land projecting into the sea, entangled with 
piny barrens, everglades, lakes, and lagoons, a fit hiding- 
place for pirates, and a convenient foothold for a foreign 
enemy. For the common defense it was purchased, con- 
quered, fortified, and admitted into the Union. 

So, too, as to Texas. True, Texas was hopelessly in- 
volved in debt, and the bond-holders were plying congress- 
men with all the arguments usually presented by desperate 
speculators to politicians of easy virtue. True, all the 
most valuable lands had already been assigned to valiant 
fillibusters, who had aided in the conquest; and these lands 
were comparatively valueless unless the United States 
should take the new republic under her protection. But 
the argument for the public ear — the justification for the 
assumption by the United States of so enormous a debt, 



14 TUE RIGHT OF SECESSION. 

for SO insignifieajit a consideration, was "the common 
"defense of tlie United States." General Houston said 
England was negotiating for Texas. If England takes it, 
she takes it on condition that slavery is to be abolished, 
was the argument in one quarter. But, if England takes 
it, there will be no safety for the United States, was the 
grand argument. "The common defense of the United 
" States," the highest, and noblest, and most patriotic of 
all considerations, was made the pretext for tlie grandest 
swindle the world ever belield. 

I will not pause here to inquire liow many millions of 
money, and how many lives the acquisition, the conquest, 
the fortification, and the defense of Florida and Texas have 
cost the United States. It turns one's brain to foot up the 
bill. I only speak of the principle on which these things 
were done. It was the common defense of the nation 
everywhere, paid for by the treasure of the nation every- 
where. 

On this same principle of "common defense," our Sen- 
ator Pugh, and other very worthy gentlemen, have advo- 
cated the acquisition of Cuba. But before we spend any 
more of our blood and treasure for "common defenses" 
of this sort, let us settle the question whether these 
defenses may lawfully secede, and leave us the next day 
after we have paid for them ? — and whether sworn otK- 
cers of the army, in the commission and pay of the 
United States, may lawfully surrender them? But again : 

Among the powers of Congress, under tlie Constitu- 
tion, (Art. I, Sec. 8,) is this: "To regulate commerce with 
" foreign nations, and among the several states, and with 
" the Indian tribes." Again, at Sec. 9, among the limita- 
tions we find this: "No tax or duty shall be laid on 
"articles exported from any state;" — "No preference 
"shall be given by any regulation of commerce or rev- 
" euue to the ports of one state over those of another ; 



THE RIGHT OF SECESSION. 15 

" nor shall vessels bound to or from one state be obliged 
"to enter, clear, or pay duties in another." 

Tlius, free trade is guaranteed to every state in the 
Union with every other state. Equal terms of trade are 
guanuiteed to every state of the Union, with foreign 
nations; and national highways are guaranteed, whereby 
the people of every state may find their way to the 
ocean, free from taxation or tribute levied by any other 
state. Can the Federal Government secure these rights? 

Ohio, for example, is an inland state, surrounded by 
other states, each of which has as good a right to secede 
as the state of South Carolina. Without these immuni- 
ties of the Constitution, she may be cut ofi' from the 
commerce of the world. These immunities are guaran- 
teed by the Constitution ; and, as a loyal state, she has a 
right to demand of the Federal Government full security 
in the enjoyment of them ; and the Federal Government 
is bound to respond to her demand. 

The principal avenue of Ohio trade is the Mississippi 
river. Through this channel millions of dollars worth 
of her produce every year find their ^ay to the markets 
of her sister states on the seacoast, or to the markets of 
foreign countries. Xow% if the state of Louisiana can 
peacefully and lawfully secede, and close up the free nav- 
igation of the Mississippi, wdiat becomes of the constitu- 
tional power of the Federal Government to fulfill her 
guarantees? 

Driven from the Mississippi, she may turn to the north- 
ern lakes, and the St. Lawrence; but there she will find 
herself in the dominions of Great Britain, creeping 
through the canals of a foreign power, and passing under 
the guns of the strongest fortress, next to Gibraltar, in 
the world. 

Driven from the waters at both ends, she may turn to 
the Erie Canal and the Hudson. But the state of New 



16 THE EIGHT OF SECESSION. 

York may as well secede as the state of Louisiana. She 
may block up the passage against Ohio produce, build 
her custom-house on the line, and demand tribute. 

New York being closed against her trade, she may 
turn to Pennsylvania and seek an outlet through the 
Pennsylvania railroad. But Peunsylviinia may as well 
secede as New York. She may shut her ports against 
Ohio produce, open her custom-house, and demand 
triljute. 

Pennsylvania having barred her ports against her, she 
may next turn to Virginia, and seek an outlet through 
the Baltimore and Oliio railroad. But Virginia may as 
well secede as Pennsylvania. She, too, may close lier 
doors against Ohio commerce, set up her custom-house, 
and demand tribute. 

Having failed in Virginia, she may turn to Kentucky, 
and finding Kentucky out of the sisterhood of states, she 
may find no better success. No one of her sister states 
regard the constitutional obligation of free trade and 
equal rights among the states. 

"What next? Ohio may store up her produce and wait 
for the opening of the Pacific railroad ; taking the 
chances that the Pacific states may secede also. 

If I am told that these evils are not likely to hapjien, 
I have to reply that if the secession of Louisiana is law- 
ful, the very worst of them has already happened; and 
all the rest may happen, for aught the Federal Govern- 
ment can do, if the right of peaceable secession be 
admitted. But again : 

By Art. IV, Sec. 4, of the Constitution, it is declared 
that 

" The United States shall guarantee to every state in this Union a 
"Kepublican form of government, and shall protect each of them against 
"invasion; and, on application of the Legislature, or the Executive, (when 
"the Legislature can not he convened,) against domestic violence." 



THE EIGHT d F SECESSION. 17 

Here is a duty made imperative by the Constitution — 
a duty neither to be evaded nor postponed. If one of the 
states is invaded by a foreign power, the Federal Govern- 
ment, on its own motion, must protect such state ; or, in 
case of domestic violence, on request, she must afford 
such protection. It is a part of the mutual defense men- 
tioned in the preamble. 

Both these misfortunes may, in time, befall the state of 
South Carolina. She may in time have to struggle with 
both foreign invasion and domestic violence. We have 
had two wars with Great Britain, and, it is possible at 
least, we may luive a third. In that event, we might 
expect to be assailed at the weakest point, which is the 
seaward of South Carolina. The old ships sunk in the 
cliannel might not be sufficient to keep a Britisli fleet 
out of Charleston harbor ; especially if Fort Sumter 
should be battered down and leveled with the sea. Be- 
sides reducing Charleston to ashes, the enemy might land 
large bodies of black troops from Jamaica, with procla- 
mations of freedom to the slaves, and arms ready to put 
in their hands. In such an emergency, it would be the 
sworn duty of the President of the United States, as 
commander-in-chief of the array and navy, to march into 
South Carolina troops sufficient to repel the invasion ; 
and, if requested, to subdue domestic violence. The trea- 
sonable folly of demagogues, and the outrages committed 
by their deluded tools on the property and the flag of 
the Union, would be no excuse for a neglect of this duty. 
In order to this, either the state of North Carolina, or 
the state of Georgia, or both, would have to be crossed. 
But suppose both these states to have seceded, and both 
to resist — both to resolve that they will regard any 
attempt to march an armed force across their territories 
as a hostile invasion, and that they will resist it to the 
last extremity. The Federal Government is left to the 
2 



18 THE RIGHT OF SECESSION. 

dilemma of allowing one state to perish, or of cutting its 
way with the sword through two other states. 

Or, suppose the enemy, as in 1815, should direct their 
hostile movements to jSTew Orleans ; the most ready and 
natural plan to repel the invasion would ho to ship men 
and munitions of war down the Mississip[)i. But here 
again the state of Mississippi, on the one side, and the 
state of Arkansas on the other, according to the theory 
of secession, may lawfully place themselves in an attitude 
of hostility to the Federal Government, and, in order to 
repel an invasion on one state, she must run the gauntlet 
between the guns of other states. 

Can any man, worthy of a place outside a lunatic asy- 
lum, suppose that our fathers framed a constitution ad- 
mitting of a construction at variance with its express 
powers and provisions? But again: 

One of the constitutional powers of Congress (Art. I, 
Sec. 8,) is 

"To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the 
" Union, suppress insurrections, and repel invasions." 

The framers of the Constitution foresaw that in this 
country, as in all other countries, the laws would some- 
times have to be executed by force; that domestic insur- 
rections would sometimes arise, and have to be suppressed 
by force; and that sudden invasions would sometimes 
occur, and have to be repelled by force. It was not the 
policy of the Federal Republic to keep large standing 
armies in time of peace to accomplish all the purposes of 
armed force, and hence the provision for calling out the 
militia. But how completely could the surrounding and 
adjacent states accomplish the destruction of a sister state, 
W'hich might be in jeopardy, simply by seceding from 
the Union, and refusing to respond to the call, or to allow 



THE RIGHT OF SECESSION. 19 

the militia of other states to pass over their territories. 
But ao'ain. 

Another of the constitutional powers of Congress (Art. 
I, Sec. 8,) is : 

" To lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises ; to pay the debts 
"and provide for the general welfare of the United States; but all duties, 
•' imposts, and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States." 

It was not to be expected that the United States would 
escape the calamities common to all nations. It was not 
to be expected that they would escape expensive wars, both 
foreign and domestic; nor was it the policy of the Federal 
Republic that the national treasury should always be full 
and overflowing with gold, over and above the ordinary 
wants of the Government. Hence the provision for debts, 
and the power to lay taxes, in various ways, to pay those 
debts. But justice and equity required that all such taxes 
should " be UNIFORM throughout the United States." 

Let us now suppose a heavy debt, incurred by the Fed- 
eral Government, for "the general welfare" of the nation, 
and a uniform tax laid by Congress to pay that debt. 
After the tax is laid, and before it is collected, one-third 
of the states secede from the Union, and set at defi- 
ance all the provisions of the Constitution under wliich the 
debt was contracted and the tax laid, and refuse to pay 
their proportion. If they may lawfully do this, how shall 
the Federal Government lawfully compel the remaining 
two-thirds of the states to pay the whole tax, and dis- 
charge the whole debt, incurred for the common benefit 
and general welfare of all the states? But again : 

Another of the powers of Congress under the Federal 
Constitution (Art. I. See. 8,) is : '' To establish post-offices 
" and post-roads." 

It was important to the interests of commerce and the 
difiTusion of knowledge, that the postal system should be 



20 THE RIGHT OF SECESSION. 

national aiul universal ; tliat the mails should be carried 
with safety and dispatch throughout every part of tlie 
United States. Hence, instead of leaving this power to 
the states, it was conferred on the Federal Legislature. 
Incident to this power of establishing the mail arises the 
power of the Government to punish thefts and robberies 
of the mail. 

Under this power, it is the duty of the Government to 
carry safely and deliver promptly the Northern mails to 
the good people of the states of North Carolina and Ten- 
nessee. They have a right to demand this at the hands 
of the Government, and the Government is bound in good 
faith to comply with the demand. But the states of Vir- 
ginia and Kentucky, extending east and west from the 
Atlantic to the Mississippi, secede from the Union, and 
declare by law that no foreign state shall establish post- 
roads, or carry mails across their territories; and, abjuring 
all allegiance to the Federal Government, the Federal 
judges resign, and the Federal courts are closed. In such 
circumstances, how shall the Federal Government fulfill 
her obligations to North Carolina and Tennessee, and 
other states farther south? How shall thieves and 
robbers of the mail be punished, where there are no 
judges to try them, and no courts wherein they may be 
tried ? 

Thus a refractory state, if the right of secession be ad- 
mitted, may not only release herself from tlie bonds of tlie 
Union, but may make it impossible for the Federal Gov- 
ernment to discharge her constitutional ol)ligations to other 
states, in harmony with the Union, and obedient to its laws. 
But again : 

Another provision of the Constitution (Art. I, Sec. 10,) 
is that 

"No state shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or confederation; grant 
"letters of marque and reprisal; coin money; emit bills of ci'editj make 



THE RIGHT OF SECESSION". 21 

"anj'tliing but gold and silver coin a tender in the payment of debts; pass 
"any bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or law impairing the obligation 
"of contracts, or grant any titles of nobility." 

The state of Louisiana professes to have cast oft" her 
allegiance to the United States, and freed herself from all 
the obligations of this Constitution. Admit the lawful- 
ness of this, and what follows? Louisiana may enter into 
treaty with some foreign power for tlie exclusive naviga- 
tion of the Mississippi river to her northern line; she may 
enter into alliance and confederation with some unfriendly 
nation ; she may issue letters of marque and reprisal, and 
turn a band of legalized pirates loose on the commerce of 
the L^nited States; she may coin money out of brass and 
babbitt metal ; she may issue bills of credit and make 
them a lawful tender in the paj^ment of debts. 

At this hour the people of Louisiana are largely 
indebted to the people of the feeding states of the "West 
for the bread and meat they have eaten ; and this indebt- 
edness is doubtless mutual, to a great extent, for sugars 
and other Southern products furnished to the people. 
Now, the Constitution guarantees to all these creditors 
alike the payment of their claims in gold and silver coin, 
in a medium of equal value at home and abroad. Al- 
low^ that Louisiana is released from her obligations to the 
Constitution, with the spirit of repudiation which prevails, 
and she n\?^y issue "bills of credit," and declare them to 
be a lawful tender in the payment of debts; and the cred- 
itors who have sold them their bread and meat, havins: 
no Federal court to redress their grievances, may be paid 
oft" in Louisiana bills of no more value than chaft"; while 
the Louisiana creditors may demand and collect gold and 
silver coin for every dime due them throughout all the 
states which remain faithful to tlie Constitution and the 
Union. Does this commend itself to the conscience or 
the common sense of any constitutional lawyer ? Yet 



22 THE KIGHT OF SECESSION. 

these are some of the plain and practical results of the 
ritjiit of secession. But aijain : 

There is yet another passage, among the miscellaneous 
pi-ovisions of the Constitution, (Art. lY, Sec. 2,) to which 
I wish to refer, and then I have done. It is this : 

"No person held to labor or service in one slate, under the laws thereof, 
'•'escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or regulation 
'■therein, be discharged from such service or labor; but sbHll be delivered 
"up on claina of the party to whom such service or labor may be due/' 

This is the Magna Giiarta of slavery. "Without this it 
has no respectable foundation in the civilized world. 
The slave-trade is at an end. The ministers of the priu- 
ci[>al European powers, in the Congress of Vienna, in 
1815, put their seal of condemnation upon it. As early 
as 1821, there was not a flag of any European state could 
legally cover it north of the equator. By the act of Con- 
gress of 1820, and the act of the British parliament of 
1824, it is declared to be piracy, and punishable with 
death. Domestic slavery alone remains, and in this coun- 
try is protected by this clause of the Constitution. With- 
out this clause, slave property in the Border states is not 
.worth a rush. By this clause the Federal Government is 
bound to deliver up to his master every escaping slave. 
Every slave-owner has a constitutional right to dema)id it 
at the hands of the Government. The Government has 
responded to that demand, in the passage of the Fugitive 
Slave Act. If this is not sufficient, Congress ought to 
make it better. But while it is the law, let it be faith- 
fully executed. 

But let us bring the right of secession in contact with 
this provision of the Constitution, and the Fugitive Slave 
Act, and see how they stand together. Pennsylvania, 
Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, "Wisconsin, and Kansas have as 
clear a right to secede as the tier of states along the Gulf, 



THE RIGHT OF SECESSION. 23 

■\vlH(,'h have already asserted tlie right. Suppose they do 
secede, what becomes of the power of the Federal Gov- 
ernment to gnarantee property in slaves, and canse fugi- 
tives from labor to be delivered up? llightful, lawful, 
peaceful secession, if there be such a thing, puts an end 
to all constitutional power, and leaves the Federal Gov- 
ernment utterly helpless, and unable to enforce the law. 

AVhat next? A universal jubilee among the negroes. 
Escry slave in the Border states who has a mind to be 
free, escapes across the line and is free. And there is no 
obligation on the seceding state, and no power in the 
Federal Government to remand him to bondaire. A 
border war might, and probably would, ensue, in which 
all the other states, North and South, would become 
involved; but this could not mend the matter. The 
empty swagger of ]\Ir. Davis, about fighting the Northern 
states on their own soil, would avail him nothing in the 
day of battle. Americans are all equally brave — through- 
out the country every man counts one. Every battle-field, 
from the struggle at Bunker Hill to the storming of Che- 
pul tepee, has proved Northern men to be fully eq'ual in 
courage, strength, and endurance to Southern men ; and 
with double their numbers, greatly superior means of 
transporting men and munitions of war by railroad, and 
no revolting domestics at home, it requires but little 
sagacity to determine what would be the result in the 
lono; run. 

The practical results would be the same if the Border 
states on the Southern side could secede. In either case, 
the constitutional obligation to deliver up fugitive slaves 
would be at an end. In either case, the appalling pros- 
pect of a border war would be equal. 

While we acknowledge the authority of a common 
parent to keep the peace between us, we shall go on har- 
moniously and afi:cctiouately, helping each other on to 



24 THE RIGHT OF SECESSION. 

prosperity, to happiness, to glory ; l)ut, if we spit in the 
face, and der)y the authority of oni- common parent, and 
rush mudly into civil -war, none hut God can tell the end 
of it. 

Other parts of tlie Constitution niiti^ht he commented 
iifton, but enouo:h has been done to show that every pro- 
vision containr'd in it is at variance with the risflit of 
secession ; that tlie right of secession, the moment it is 
exercised, contravenes and destroys the powers of tlie 
Federal Government to accomplish the purposes for which 
it was made ; tliat the right of secession and the Constitu- 
tion can not stand together, and that the one or the other 
must fall. 

If we admit the right of secession at all, there is no point 
at which we can safely say it will end. Other states, North 
as well as South, in time, will discover, or imagine they 
discover, reasons far stronijer than the Gulf states can 
show, why they should withdraw from the Union. The 
state of New York may wake up to the fact that her im- 
posts alone contribute more to the treasury of the United 
States than those of all the Gulf states put together; that 
she has more power to resist the Federal Government 
than all the Gulf states put together; and, seizing on 
these considerations, she may demand at the hands of the 
Federal Government, unreasonable and unconstitutional 
advantages over her sister states as the price of her alle- 
giance; may demand, at the hands of her sister states, 
nnreasonable and ruinous concessions as the condition on 
which she will remain in the Union ; may hold out to the 
states north of her unequal advantages over the states 
south of her, or threaten them with exconnnunication 
from the advantages of her commerce, as inducements to 
join her standard of secession. 

The question of slavery is not the only sectional ques- 
tion about which states may difl'er. So far as it can aiieot 



THE RIGUT OF SECESSION. 25 

the Gulf states, that qnestiou is settled. Kansas, by the 
choice of her own people, is a free state ; and whenever 
the dwellers among the mountain spurs of New Mexico are 
numerous enough to form a state, the}', too, will come in, 
voting slavery up or voting it down as they please. AVlien 
a line between free labor and slave labor is once settled, 
from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and the hot blood arising 
from the contest cooled, we may expect rest on that ques- 
tion. 

But, if we had rest from contentions about slavery, the 
right of secession, if admitted to be lawful, would not rest. 
Denying the common um}>irage of the Federal Govern- 
ment, it would run constantly into encroachments of one 
state on the riglits of another; into tyranny of the strong 
over the weak; into border wars . and endless strife. 
"Wicked and ambitions malcontents will always find rea- 
sons for treason and secession, if you will only allow such 
crimes to be lawful. 

During the first era of treason and secession in this 
country, slavery was not an element. Division between 
the North and the South was not the idea. O'Fallen" and 
his South Carolina Colony sought to detach, by secession 
from Georgia, the territory now forming the state of Mis- 
sissippi, and transfer it to Spain. Sevier, Robinson, and 
others sought to wrest, bj' secession from North Carolina, 
the territory now forming the state of Tennessee, and 
transfer it to Spain. General Wilkinson, Sebastian, and 
others sought to alienate, l)y secession from Virginia, the 
territory now forming the state of Kentucky, and trans- 
fer it to Spain. Bradford and his associates sought to 
separate, by secession from Pennsylvania, all the territory 
west of the Alleghany mountains, and set up for themselves. 
But in all this, slavery was not an element, and divisions 
between the North and the South were not spoken of. 
The free navigation of the Mississippi, which the Federal 



26 THE RIGHT OF SECESSION. 

Government had not yet seenred, was one element. An 
'Mrrejiressiljle contlicr," snjiposed to exist between the 
Atlantic states and the \\'estern conntry, was another 
element; and, in rcnnsylvania, tlie exeise on distilled 
sitirits was another eleiiient. 

In the seeond era of treason and sceessicMi, under the 
lead ot" Aaron Burr, slavery was not an element, nor were 
Northern and iSouthern tlivisions thought of. Fomenting 
jealousies between the i)eople and states on the Atlantic 
slope and those on the Western slo[ie of the A[)[)alaehiau 
mountains, and thus dividing the Union b}' a line running 
north and south, and setting up a se[)arate government 
iu the ^lississippi valley, was the primary object of that 
movement. 

Nor was African slavery an element in the third era 
of treason and secession, which occurred in General Jack- 
son's administration. The subject of com[)laint then was, 
that the revenue laws of the United States were unequal 
and oppressive in their operation — that the planting dis- 
tricts of the country were unreasonably taxed for tlie 
protection of the manufacturing districts. After this 
attempt at the disruption of the Government was put 
dow^n by General Jackson, and the cause of comjilaint 
removed by Mr. Clay's bill. General Jackson, in a letter 
to a friend, declared that the complaint against the reve- 
nue laws was a mere pretext for treason, and predicted 
that African slavery would be the next pretext. Here 
are his words, too truly verified: 



"I liave had a lal)orious ta^lv here, but nullification is dead; and its 
"actors and courtiers will only bo remembered by tbe people to be exe- 
" ci'aled for their wicked d<'.sio;iis to sever and destroy the only good 
'•government on the globe, and tliat prosperity' and liapiiiness we enjoy 
"over every other portion of the world. Hainan's gallows ought to be 
"the fate of all such ambitious men, who W'ould involve their country in 
" civil war, and all the evils in its train, that they might reign and ride 



THE RIGHT OF SECESSION. 27 

"on its -whirlwinds, and direct the storm. The free people of the United 
" States have spoken, and consij^ned these wicked demagogues to their 
"proper doom. Take care of your nullitiers; you have them among you; 
"let them meet with the indignant frowns of evovy man who inves his 
"country. The tariff, it is 7ioiv known, was a mere pretext; its hurdcn 
"was on j'our coarse woolens. By the law of July, 1832, coarse woolen 
"was reduced to five per cent., for the benefit of tlie South. jMr. Clay's 
"hill takes it up and classes it with woolens at fifty per cent., reduces it 
"gradually down to twenty per cent., and there it remains; and Mr. Cal- 
"houn and all tlie nuUifiers agree to the principle. The cash duties and 
'• home valuation will he equal to fifteen per cent, more, and after the year 
" 1842, you pay on coarse woolens thirty-five per cent. If this is not pro- 
" tection, I can not understand; therefore, the tariff was only the pretext, 
"and disunion and a Southern confederaej' the real oLject. The next 
" pretext will be the negro or slavery question." 

It would require but little argumeut to prove that all 
the complaints of the seceding states about negroes is a 
mere pretext — as much so as the com[)laints about the 
tariff. The Border states, as I shall show, have some 
ground of complaint; but these people have none. Their 
slaves never escape into the free states ; and whether the 
fugitive law is well executed or not, does not aflect their 
interests. Their complaints about slavery in the terri- 
tories is all a sham. Eveiy man knows, and every South- 
ern statesman has often declared, that the people in the 
territories, when they come to form constitutions, and be 
admitted as states, have a perfect right to admit or 
exclude slavery — "to vote it up, or vote it down." The 
attempt to force slavery on the people of Kansas against 
their will could only have been made for the purpose of 
provoking a sectional quarrel about negroes, and bring- 
ing on a crisis. It could not have been made with the 
Borions expectation tliat the people of Kansas would 
submit. And yet tliis controversy is made a pretext 
for an attempt to divide the Union and destroy the gov- 
ernment. 

What infernal star is to preside over the fifth era of 



28 THE RIGHT OF SECESSION. 

treason and secession, God only knows. 'We iiave reason, 
however, to believe, from what we have seen of the past, 
that if the right of secession is conceded, excuses will 
never be wanting to ambitious demagogues, who prefer 
their own advancement to the good of their country. A 
political heres}', so versatile in its instincts — so ready to 
form alliances witli every grievance and discontent — so 
ready to embrace every local pi-ojadice and popular furor, 
for tlie destruction of the Government, is not to be tol- 
erated. It is a wolf witliout even sheep's clothing, and 
fit to be knocked on the head by evcrj- honest man when- 
ever he meets it. 

E'er do I believe that the election of Mr. Lincoln, as a 
ground for dissolving the Union, is more than a hollow 
pretext. The erj' of abolition against him is but a raw- 
head and b]oody-b(Hies to stir up the [jrojudices of igno- 
rant masses, and prepare them to be at once the du[»es, 
the tools, and the victims of treason. Coming across a 
Southern man, who told mo that the election of !Mr. Lin- 
coln was a violation of the Constitution, I insisted on 
knowing how this thing could be. I was informed that 
the violation of the Constitution lay in certain bad doc- 
trines put forward in the Chicago platform, which he 
alleged, by the election of Mr. Lincoln, was foisted on 
the people instead of the Cons'titution. 

No one can increase my contempt for platforms. They 
are not the work of statesmen, but of politicians. They 
are the contrivances of the demagogues who rule con- 
ventions, for the purpose of destroying some one's pros- 
pects, or turning to account some prevailing public sen- 
timent or popular furor. After they have been used in 
convention, two tilings may be said of them. First. The 
masses of the voting public neither know nor care any- 
thing about them, but act upon the prevailing sentiment 
of the day. Second. The person elected, if an honest 



THE RIGHT OF SECESSION. 29 

man, with the Coiistitation for liis platform, and a wise 
expediency for liis guide, regards them as of no mors 
anthorit}' than the quack nostrums published on the odd 
leav^es of an almanac. 

The leading demagogues ah)ng the Gulf cared nothing 
about the Chicago platform. This was not the mote that 
troubled their eye. Their grievance was more incurable. 
The scepter Ijad departed from them. They had failed, 
by stampede, to drive Mr. Douglas from the iield. They 
had failed, by fanfaronade, in Mr. Lincoln's case, to frighten 
tlie people from the first and highest principle of free gov- 
ernment — the right of the majority to rule. The secession 
movement did not come from a sober conviction that the 
seceding states would better their condition ; it was rather 
like the angry outbreak of a spoiled and willful child, who, 
failing to bully his mother out of all that he wants, flings 
the bread and butter she gives him away. 

For many years, they had had far more tlian their pro- 
portion of Federal patronage ; fur more than their propor- 
tion of the public money had been expended in fortifying 
their coast and improving their commerce ; they had had 
far more than their proportion of public offices in the gift 
of the president ; and, wdiat is more remarkable, since the 
time of Martin Van Buren down to the time of Stephen 
A. Douglas, we had not had a Democratic president, nor a 
Democratic candidate for the presidency, who was not 
nominated by their dictation. They had been so long 
masters of the Democratic party, that the revolt of Mr. 
Douglas and his friends could not be brooked. They saw, 
in his nomination, what has since been proved in the 
election of Mr. Lincoln, a determination, on the part of 
the majority, not to be always dictated to, but to have 
something to say in the affairs of State. And, if public 
sentiment should take such a direction, it might post[)one 
the chances of these ambitious men to be president for 



30 THE RIGUT OF SECESSION. 

a long while — perhaps during tlie lifetime of some of 
them. 

One of the most fruitful sources of civil commotions, 
war, and liloodslu'd, is the lust for power. All the nations 
from which we derive our blood have been rent with feuds 
and drenched with blood from this cause. The blood of 
our ancestors still boils in our veins, and the same causes 
wdiich distracted them, now distract us. The ambition 
to l)e [)residcnt of the United States is both intense and 
■vv'ide-s})read. True, the term of ofliv'e is but four j-ears; 
but, within that brief period, thousands and tens of tlnni- 
sands of })laces of honor, trust, and iirofit, are dispensed 
by him; and millions and hundreds of millions of money 
disbursed, directly or indirectly, throngh his appointment. 
Hence the inauguration of a president inspires an interest 
more intense tiian the coronation of seven kings. This 
ambition to be president can not often be gratified. The 
presidency is an immense lottery, in which the blanks are 
many and the prizes few. And I apprehend there are 
many ambitious men, both North and South, who would 
gladly rend the Union in two to be president of one half 
of it. 

Anions: the illustrious dead, there have been a 2:reat 
man}' who had a commendable ambition to be president, 
without attaining the object of their ambition. We can 
not withhold our admiration from the man of true ambi- 
tion, who makes his ambition subservient to the good of 
his country. Among these, the gods of my political idola- 
trv were Clay and Webster. The chief ambition of Clav's 
life was to be president; but his ambition soared far above 
the groveling thought of being president of less than the 
whole iSTation. As I thrust my head from the window of 
tlie rail-car to catch a glance of the pillar his grateful 
counti-ynien erected to his memory, it makes me proud to 
remember that here sleeps a man, ambitious as he was, 



THE RIGHT OF SECESSION. 31 

wlio would yet " ratlier be right than president." AVeb- 
8ter was as ambitions to be president as Clay, but liis am- 
bition was too bio- to ])reside over a broken fra<i;ment of 
his conntr}'. Let him tell his own story : 

'' "When my eyes shall be turned to behold for the last time the sun in 
"heaven, may I not see him shining on the broken and dishonored frag- 
" ments of a once glorious Union; on states dissevered, discordant, belliger- 
"ent; on a land rent with civil feuds, or drenched, it may be, in fraternal 
" blood." 

AVliat a lesson the lives of sneh men teach the world ! 
How instructive the retlection, that true merit must look 
for its reward be^'ond the limits of this present life. 

I would be far from holding tlie honest, sober-minded 
public at large in the Gulf states responsible for the folly 
and treason of those who now tyrannize over and bur- 
den them with taxes to defray the expenses of a fruitless 
flourish of arms. There are times when all the elements 
of society become mixed and turned upside down, so that 
scarcely any man is responsible for the position you find 
him in. A French wit once said that English society was 
like English ale, all froth at the top, and dirt at the bot- 
tom. He was right in his philosophy, if he had l)nt 
admitted that there was a goodlv stratum of ale in the 
middle. Tliis is the structure of society everywhere, more 
so, perhaps, in the extreme South than anywhere else. It 
is observable, too, that when "the times are out of joint," 
the men of froth at the top, and the men of dirt at the 
bottom, always combine to put down and keep down the 
better part of communit}-. 

From all that I can learn by conversation with travel- 
ers, and letters from friends, and from what I know of 
the structure of Southern society, I believe this to be the 
condition of things in the Gulf states at this hour. There 
is a fearful looking for the people know not what — a reign 



32 THE RIGHT OF SECESSION. 

of terror in wliidi no mkui feels safe in the honest expres- 
sion of his convictioiis. I am sati.sfied that when tlie 
l)0|)ular delirium subsides, tliere will be found a lar^e 
majority of the best and most substantial citizens in this 
section of tlio country true to the Constitution and to tlie 
Union. If I am asked why these men did not speak out, 
the answer is: some of them did speak out, and others 
Avould have spoken out but for the pusillanimous policy 
of the Federal Executive. The commander-in-chief of the 
army and navy of the United States, month after month, 
saw the hand of treason seizing on the arms of the United 
States, and heard the note of preparation for war against 
the Government, without any preparation to meet or to 
check the evil. 

The army and navy were established rather to keep 
the peace than to be employed in war. It was the opin- 
ion of Washington, that the best way to preserve the 
peace was to be prepared for war. This maxim applies 
to civil wars at home as well as to wars with foreign ene- 
mies. Every [(reparation to resist the laws by an armed 
force was a sufficient reason to garrison the adjacent forts, 
and anclior shi[)S of war in the adjacent harbors. If this 
had been done, it would have secured obedience to the 
laws. Men, well affected toward the Constitution and the 
Union, would have been encouraged to speak out, with- 
out incurring the danger of mob violence, and they 
would have been listened to with respect. Seditious 
demagogues would have fretted out their hour on the 
stage and disappeared. The new administration would 
have had time to define its position, and give the lie to' 
allegations of intended wrong and oppression to the 
South, made and circulated to delude and disaffect the 
common mind. Honest people, who suffered soreness 
and mortification at the election of Mr. Lincoln, instead 
of being betrayed into treason and violence toward the 



THE RIGHT OF SECESSION. 33 

Government, would have looked forward to the inevitable 
changes in the administration of all free government; 
and in the calmer light of reason would have seen that 
no man, or party of men, could remain long in power 
who abused that power. 

But nothing of the kind was done. The president was 
overreached, overawed, and overruled by a bevy of trait- 
ors in his cabinet. They constantly pressed on him the 
impolicy of making any preparation to meet the coming 
trouble — exhorted him to make no military demonstra- 
tion, lest it might irritate the people. Putting together 
wdiat these miscreants said aloud for the president's ear, 
and what they said in their hearts, behind his back, it 
was as if one had said: "Shut your eyes, old man, while 
"I steal a few millions more from the Treasury." An- 
other, " Hold still, old man, while I plunder the arsenals 
" and military stores, and scatter the troops of the United 
" States so widely that you will not know where to find 
"them for six months to come." Another: "Hands off, 
" old man, while I order one-half the navy into the 
" Pacific, and scatter the residue along the coast of Africa, 
" so that they can not be recalled for half a year." And 
he, good easy man, had said: "Gentlemen, Mr. Cass and 
" I are too old to trouble our heads about such tilings. 
"You are all young and smart; have things your own 
" way." Holt, Dix, and Stanton, for whose brows im- 
mortal laurels are growing green, stood up for their 
country. But for them, the Executive might have slept 
on in the lap of Delilah — been shorn of the last lock of 
manhood — bound hand and foot, and delivered over to 
the enemy, to be waked up by the shrill shout of the 
vixen, " The Philistines be upon thee, Samson ! " 

Now that everybody knows what everybody ought to 
have known, and what nearly everybody but the chief 
executive did know, the weak and pusillanimous idea is 
3 



34 THE KIGHT OF SECESSION. 

advanced, that the best government in the world, and 
the only republic worth the name, is to be frittered 
away, inch by inch, for the want of power to defend its 
own existence. 

AVe have seen that there is no Avant of constitutional 
power in tlie Federal Government. The power to exe- 
cute the laws, suj)press insurrections from within, and 
repel invasions from without, stand upon the same con- 
stitutional footing. But it may be interesting to inquire, 
whether there are any respectable authorities for the 
exercise of this power. We need not travel out of Cin- 
cinnati for an instance in which the officer of the Federal 
Government has called out the military to execute the Fu- 
gitive Slave Law. The same thing has occurred in Boston, 
New York, and other places, in extraordinary cases, wliere 
resistance to the law was apprehended; and I have never 
met with a Southern man who questioned either the power 
or the policy of exercising it in such a case. Bat I rely 
on higher authority, and more to the point. I propose 
to inquire what three presidents have done in cases of 
armed resistance to the law — two of them the most pop- 
ular presidents we ever had, and the third HUing a place 
in the common heart of America and the world, far, very 
far, above all our conceptions of popularity. 

In the first era of treason and secession, there was a 
singular resemblance between the conduct of the insurrec- 
tionists in Western Pennsylvania, and that of our deluded 
brethren in the Gulf states. They killed, they whipjiod, 
they tarred and feathered, they banished;, they burned, 
barns, houses, and distilleries, and stopped short of seizing 
the United States' arsenal in Pittsburgh only for the want 
of sufficient force. It is said that this insurrection, at one 
time, numbered seven thousand men in arms. There was 
great allowance to be made for these people. Most of 
them were from the north of Ireland, where they had been 



THE RIGHT OF SECESSION. 35 

accustomed both to drink whisk}' and hate excise laws. 
This excise law, though warranted by the Constitution, 
(x-Vrt. I, Sec. 8,) tuul unitbrni throughout the United States, 
bore hard on tlie people of the West, who were so remote 
from market tiiat whisky was the oidy form in which their 
produce c<^uld be transported and turned to money. They 
were urged on b}' ambitious demagogues, and refused to 
wait for the constitutional remedy — flew to arms, and de- 
fn'<l the Federal Government. The excise law was modi- 
fied to relieve them of their burdens; still thej' resisted. 
"Washington sent out commissioners to remonstrate with 
them; still they resisted. Washington's language, on this 
occasion, was worthy of a great ruler: "Cost what it nuiy, 
the people must be taught to obey the law." He called 
out the militia of I^ew Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and 
Virginia, put them under the command of General Henry 
Lee, then governor of Virginia, and marched an army of 
fourteen thousand men to Pittsburgh. As they marched 
over the ground on which the insurrectionists paraded 
but yesterday, not a dog moved his tongue. The leaders 
fled to the Spanish dominions below, and there was an 
end of insurrection, treason, and secession. At this daj', 
there is no spot in America where the name of Washing- 
ton is more revered than the spot where this insurrection 
was put down. No people truer to the Constitution and 
the Union than the sons and grandsons of these insurrec- 
tionists. 

In the second era of treason and secession, which oc- 
curred during the administration of Mr. Jeiterson, mili- 
tary force was used, b}' order of the president, to suppress 
insurrection and punish treason. Burr had fallen from 
his pristine glory. His hopes in the East were blasted. 
Still, 

" To reign was worth ambition, though in hell." 

He came to the West with his head and heart both full 



36 THE RIGHT OF SECESSION. 

of treason, Tl)ere -was a second and third project in 
contem]»lation, if the iirst sliould fail; but the primary 
object was to divide the Union — to revive and inflnme 
tlie old prejudices of the peoj)le in the Mississippi valley 
against the people of tlie Atlantic states, disrupt the 
Union, and set up a Southwestern Confederacy. 

Burr's confederate traitor, General Wilkinson, betrayed 
him to Mr. Jefteriso?i, The bare attempt at such a thin^^ 
by a man of Burr's sagacity, strongly suggested its possi- 
bility. Mr. Jefferson, in sight of danger, did not hold still 
for fear of irritating the Western people. He prepared for 
the woi'st. J>y his order, Governor Tiffen called out the 
militia of Ohio, and by armed force intercej)ted and cap- 
tured fourteen of Burr's transport boats near the mouth of 
the Muskingum, for wijich he received the thanks of the 
president. The territorial governor of Louisiana, in like 
manner, called out the militia to seize his transports and 
intercept his flight. He was arrested, carried to Kich- 
mond, Virginia, and there indicted and tried for treason. 

By the Constitution, every one accused of a crime is 
entitled to a trial in the same state or district where the 
crime was committed. By the same instrument, (Art. Ill, 
Sec. 3,) treason is conlined within very narrow limits: 
"Treason against the United States shall consist only in 
" levying war against them, or in adhering to their ene- 
" mies, giving them aid and comfort." Chief Justice 
Marshall held that there must be, not a design merely, 
but some overt act of treason to sustain an indictment. 
The government failed to prove any overt act of war 
against tlie United States within the district of Virginia, 
and Burr was acquitted. The moral efl[ect was the same 
as if he had been hanged. The public were advertised of 
the estimate in which traitors were held, and treason did 
not show her head till 1832. 

The third era of treason and secession occurred in 1832, 



THE RIGHT OF SECESSION. ^7 

during the administration of General Jackson. The os- 
tensible subject of complaint then, was the revenue laws, 
which, as was alleged, were oppressive to the people of 
the planting states. General Jackson believed this was a 
mere pretext on the part of the leaders. Whether he was 
right in this I will not undertake to say. Whatever the 
grievance was, they resorted for their remedy to secession 
and violence. They pulled down from the custom-house 
at Charleston the flag of the Union, and trampled it 
under their feet, and passed laws in the Legislature of 
South Carolina, to resist the Federal Government in the 
collection of the revenues. General Jackson, following 
the example of Washington, remonstrated earnestlj' with 
them against their lawless conduct ; but, when they re- 
fused to listen to reason, he ordered General Scott, with a 
garrison of eight hundred men, to Fort Moultrie, to see 
that the laws were faithfully executed. If, by transmigra- 
tion, the soul of Andrew Jackson had occupied the body 
of James Buchanan, we would have had peace to-day. 

Gloomy as is the aspect of atfairs, I still think we shall 
have peace. I do not think a gun will be fired along the 
Gulf. The Federal Administration, as indicated by the 
Inaugural, is kind, conciliator}', and wise. The President 
advises those who are disaffected to take further time, and 
reflect more seriously upon the consequences of the pro- 
visional steps the}' have taken. And while the Gulf states 
are thus taking time to reflect, let us see what can be done 
toward a fair, honorable, and just understanding with the 

, Border states. 

V I come now to speak of the reciprocal duties of the states 
toward each other. And, first, as to the vexed question of 
slavery. Whether, in the abstract, it is right or wrong — 
whether the institution is Divine or human, is not now the 
question. The framers of the Federal Constitution found 
it here, and left it here; and, inasmuch as it did not exist 



38 THE RIGHT OF SECESSION. 

in 8ome of tlie states, and mi^lit be abolished in otliers, 

tbcy fixed the guarantee in the Constitution, tliat escapi?ig 

, slaves should be delivered up, on demand, to their masters. 

The spirit as well as the letter of this guarantee ought 
to be carried out. No good citizen of the United States 
can excuse himself from this. lie is a bad citizen who 
goes into a slave state and excites in the mind of a slave 
disobedience to his master. He is a bad citizen who, by 
Avord, or letter, or printed pa[)ers, persuades a slave to 
escape from his master. lie is a bad citizen who know- 
ingly assists a slave to escape from his master. He is a 
bad citizen wlio attempts to batfle or defeat a master in 
the recapture of his slave. And when Congress makes a 
law for the recapture of slaves, which is held by the su- 
preme judiciary of the United States to be constitutional, 
he is a bad citizen who resists the execution of that law. 
And a man whose conscience will not allow him, in good 
faith, to execute the law, ought not to liold the office of 
judge, commissioner, or marshal under the Federal Gov- 
ernment. Thus much for the duty of the citizen. 

The Slime rule of good faith and constitutional obliga- 
tion forbids the Legislature of any state to pass laws to 
thwart or defeat acts of Congress, which, by the terms of 
the Constitution, are the supreme laws of the laud. And, 
though all such state legislation is imconstitutional and 
void, still it is offensive, and has a powerful tendency to 
destroy the good feeling between the states, and weaken 
the bonds of the Union. Such acts are inconsiderately 
passed, and ought to be repealed. 'So considerations of 
state or personal pride ought to stand in tlie way of such 
an act of obedience to the supreme law of the land. IS'o 
man who nullifies the supreme laws liimself, ought to 
condemn others for nullifvino^ them. The Northern nul- 
lifier is no better in principle than the Soutliern nullitier. 
They only differ in degree. 



THE RIGHT OF SECESSION. 39 

But there are reciprocal duties which ought to be per- 
formed by the slaveholding states. If, as has been said, 
and as I partly believe, busy-bodies from the free states 
go into the slave states to excite discontents, and stir up 
insurrections among the slaves, it is their privilege — it is 
their duty, to pass such penal laws as may remedy the 
evil, and see to it that such laws are enforced. But in 
these, as in all other cases of crime, the party accused 
should have a fair and impartial trial. The practice, too 
common in the distant South, of seizing on citizens of the 
free states, engaged in their lawful business, and putting 
some to death, and subjecting others to ignominious pun- 
ishments on mere suspicion of being Abolitionists, makes 
more Abolitionists in one year than all the lectures which 
could be delivered in seven. Oifeuses of this kind, com- 
mitted in the Gulf states, do great injury to the rights of 
our neighbors in the Border states. Men in the free states 
are but men, and it is in vain to attempt to reconcile them 
to outrages of this kind. The man whose brother or 
kinsman has been ignominiously murdered, will not be 
persuaded to forgive and forget. All the laws in the 
univ^erse wont make a man quiet under such circum- 
stances. 

And then there are some things which our Southern 
brethren must not expect, because, in the nature of things, 
they are impossible. Among these is the favorite idea of 
Mr. Calhoun, that there must be equality of representation 
in Congress, at least in the Senate, between the slavehold- 
ing and non-slaveholding states. The Constitution, as it 
is, for the purposes of apportionment, attaches the character 
of persons to property, and gives to every live slaves the 
weight of three free men. This is all they can expect in that 
direction. The other idea is inadmissible, on every principle 
of popular government, and runs back into the Rotten 
Borough system of England. As the people swell in 



40 THE RIGHT OF SECESSION. 

numbers, they overflow and form new states, and b}^ this 
means, not only the number of the people, but the number 
of states, is greater North than South. The reasons of this 
inequality are natural and plain. First. Tiie people of the 
free states marry younger, and bring up more children, tlian 
the people of the slave states. Second. There is more emi- 
gration from the slave states to the free, than from the free 
states to the slave states. Third. The influx of population 
from abroad runs more into the free than into the slave 
states. In 18(30, the population of the free states out- 
numbered that of the slave states two to one. In 1880 
they will outnumber them three to one. And, should a 
disruption of the Union take place, this change will come 
as early as 1870. 

The great democratic principle, that the majority must 
rule, can not be smothered, unless we run into anarchy, and 
from thence into despotism. AVhat remains to us on both 
sides is to settle definitely the line between us, and leave 
each other, and each other's institutions, alone. "With this, 
and a strict construction of the Constitution, no harm can 
befall any section of the country. 

All attempts to amend the Constitution at this time, I 
think, are futile, for the simple reason that a vote of two- 
thirds can not now be had. Then leave the Constitution 
alone. It is the temple of liberty in which our fathers 
worshiped ; and all attempts to change or remodel it seem 
to me like picking a frustum from a granite column, and 
filling its place with brickbats. If the legislation under the 
Constitution is insufficient for the purposes of justice, peace, 
and harmony, let that be amended. 

Another duty we owe each other on both sides is, to 
speak of each other according to some measure of decency. 
The man on my right who steals my horses, is not half so 
bad a neighbor as the man on my left who slanders me and 
my household. We dwellers in the North, and you dwellers 



THE RIGHT OF SECESSION. 41 

in the South, must quit Iving on each other — quit calling 
each other hard names, quit accusing each other of crimes 
of which neither of ns are oruiltv. 

But, unless the printing press undertakes this reform, 
we are undone. In this city there is one press which 
could accomplish a world of good — enough to purchase 
absolution for the sinsof several years past, and indulgences 
of several years to come. I would not disparage the other 
journals of the city, but all the rest are helpless in the South, 
because not read in the South. 

If the Enquirer would forget, for a while, that it has a 
party to save, and remember that it might be the means of 
Raving a country; if it would put aside all the virulence of 
party, and earnestly tell the South the truth as to the real 
state of public sentiment in the Xorth, among all parties — 
tell them that the idea that the Democracy are pro-slavery 
men is all a delusion — that the idea that the Republicans 
are Abolitionists is all a delusion — tell them neither one 
party nor the other desire to interfere with slavery as a 
domestic institution — that both of them are heartily tired 
of discussions on that subject, and would both be glad if 
the word slave should never be heard again in Congress — 
that the Abolitionists, whom they seem so much to abhor, 
are but the Xorthern nullifiers — that the nullitiers in the 
South are but the Southern Abolitionists — men of kin- 
dred spirits toiling at either end of the lever to work out 
the same common mischief. The result could not but be 
happy. I know of no journal in Ohio, except the En- 
quirer, which could venture on such a work with any 
hope of success, and, therefore, I make the suggestion in 
all kindness. All the other journals can do is to pour 
cold water on the heads of fanatics at home, and keep the 
fever of party down, till time and wiser counsels shall 
restore the nation to peace. 

Young gentlemen, you must pardon what I am now 



42 THE RIGUT OF SECESSION. 

aliont to sav. You liave stouter hearts and strono-er hands 
to dcfund the Union, il' the day of trial shouUl come, than 
I have, hut none of you love it so well. T am longer 
acqiuiinted with it, and, therefore, love it hetter. It is 
over half a century since my venerahle father threaded 
the gai)S of the Alk^ghany mountains, and took up his 
ahode in Ohio. I first found myself in a log-cahin in the 
^\■i](h■rness, where night was made hideous hy the howling 
of the wolf, and the })aths of the woods dangerous by the 
]ii"owling of savage beasts. I have seen and felt all the 
poverty, privations, hardships, and toils of backwoods life, 
when shabljy little pack-horses did the work of commerce 
now performed by canals, steamboats, and railroads. 
Thei'e were in those days no cities, no crowded marts, no 
splendid feats and shows, to dazzle the vision of poor 
boys. AVe had but two wonderful things to gaze upon 
and admire : the Sun shining in tlie heavens above, ar.d the 
Flag of the Union floating over our heads. As I sfrew 
older and more thoughtful, I still associated these won- 
ders. I pointed to the sun aiid said : This is the lamp 
which God in his power has hung out to the universe. I 
pointed to our National banner and said : This is the 
beacon-light which God in his providence has hung out 
to the struggling, bewildered, and faint-hearted votaries 
of freedom throughout the world. I hoped their lights 
would last forever, or be extinguished together, and blend 
harmoniously in the texture of the " new heaven and the 
new earth." 

I am not now without hope. "We shall still see brighter 
days. The tempests and darkness which deform the face 
of our country will blow over, and in a brighter sky we 
shall see the morning sun and the National banner both 
arising to their meridian splendor. 



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